Benchmark Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for XPO (NYSE:XPO) Stock

XPO (NYSE:XPO) had its price target boosted by investment analysts at Benchmark from $150.00 to $155.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the transportation company’s stock. Benchmark’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 12.01% from the company’s previous close.

XPO has been the subject of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of XPO from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on XPO from $146.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Citigroup raised their price target on XPO from $155.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $165.00 price objective on shares of XPO in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on XPO from $150.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $150.00.

XPO Price Performance

Shares of NYSE XPO opened at $138.38 on Wednesday. XPO has a twelve month low of $80.26 and a twelve month high of $161.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.04. The stock has a market cap of $16.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 2.11. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $144.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $124.68.

XPO (NYSE:XPO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The transportation company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.13. XPO had a return on equity of 31.16% and a net margin of 4.57%. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that XPO will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On XPO

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of XPO. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in XPO by 159.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 70,407 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $7,569,000 after buying an additional 43,237 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in XPO during the third quarter worth $534,000. Traynor Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in XPO by 125.2% in the third quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,142 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $2,596,000 after purchasing an additional 13,422 shares during the period. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. increased its stake in XPO by 36.2% during the third quarter. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 40,410 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $4,344,000 after purchasing an additional 10,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of XPO by 36.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 698,831 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $75,131,000 after buying an additional 185,686 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 97.73% of the company’s stock.

About XPO

XPO, Inc provides freight transportation services in the United States, rest of North America, France, the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, North American LTL and European Transportation. The North American LTL segment provides customers with less-than-truckload (LTL) services, such as geographic density and day-definite domestic services.